What happens in Vegas

The American Alliance of Museums reports that while a slight majority recorded an uptick in visitor traffic in 2012, 67 percent — mostly small to mid-range facilities — described themselves as under “economic stress” from the Great Recession five years ago. Which underscores the age-old industry challenge of how to anticipate or create public interest and keep those turnstyles cranking.

To that end, it’s still a little early to predict how instructive Allan Palmer’s excursions into The Great Taboo will prove. Granted, since opening its doors in 2005, the 16,000 square-foot National Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas offers a uniquely compelling product. What could be more magnetic than America’s 20th-century experiments with weapons of mass destruction? But since the NATM unveiled its “Area 51: Myth or Reality” exhibit in March 2012, Palmer has seen 60 percent of museum visitors shell out an extra $6 to take a peek. And that addition has drawn the sort of attention money can’t buy, from The Discovery Channel, A&E, Pawn Stars, the History Channel, the BBC, the list goes on. “I just got off the phone with NHK in Japan,” says the museum’s executive director. “I think they’re going to be coming out.”

“The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it is true” — Robert Oppenheimer/CREDIT: vimeo.com

Yes, the “Myth or Reality” wing has the Stealth/spyplane/back-engineered Soviet MiG offerings going for it. But with its logo attached to a flying saucer silhouette, the exhibit clearly knows its trump card. Not content to stop there, however, Palmer also hosts periodic round-table UFO discussions, some involving military veterans. And this is where the real trail-blazing comes in.

In sharing historical relics with America’s national museum network, the NATM rightly proclaims its “Association With The Smithsonian Institution” on its web page. But shortly before one of those UFO panels began, Palmer reports that a Smithsonian official called to request Smithsonian’s name not be affiliated with that gathering. “They said, ‘We do not discuss UFOs and intergalactic space travel at the Smithsonian,’” Palmer recalls. “I was actually quite stunned by it. This is a public issue that’s not going away.”

Palmer prevailed by reminding the venerable Institution that it had, in fact, sponsored a UFO Symposium at its Museum of Natural History on Sept. 6, 1980. A minor point, perhaps, but maybe not. A survivor of aerial combat over North Vietnam, Palmer has personal — if limited — insights into Area 51, having flown there as a Navy pilot in the 1970s. He doesn’t buy into the subterranean-alien-bodies-on-ice conspiracy scenarios swirling around Nevada’s top-secret military base.

“My concern is that in today’s world, it’s hard to nail down what’s real and what’s not, what’s relevant and what’s not,” he says. “It’s easy to wander off into never-neverland, and I don’t want to spend a lot of time with that.”

Yet, Palmer is eager to promote a broader dialogue about UFOs, particularly whatever implications their presumed technology may hold for alternative energy and advanced space travel. “Science can be so ivory tower-ish. They don’t connect with so many aspects of science the public is fascinated in,” he says. “But I think these programs are a pretty good way to get people excited about science, particularly young people, especially if it leads to a usable or realistic discussion.

“From a parochial standpoint, my concern is museums being perceived as the dusty trashbins of history with a lot of Civil War bullets on display behind glass cases. They have their place,” he says, “but the real challenge is to engage people and make things relevant to their lives. We’re not taking a stand one way or another, we’d just like a good solid discussion between high-level people on one side or another. But I’m leery of a debate format, where one side wins and one side loses. I’m more interested in bringing different viewpoints to the table, where people out there are free to come in and challenge them.” Truth be told, he says, the phone’s been “ringing off the hook” from people who want to use NATM as a forum.

At 6 p.m. PST Saturday, as part of his continuing “Myth or Reality” radio campaign to promote the brand, Palmer will do an hour-long interview with veteran UFO researcher Stan Friedman on KXNT-FM. Odds are, industry peers won’t be tuning in. But in this day and age, it’s hard to imagine anyone in the biz complacent enough to ignore what could turn out to be an unlikely formula for success.

4 comments on “What happens in Vegas”

@Paul – I’m all for investigating physical phenomena, but the complexity of the wider field of ufology requires a broader range of research. This includes psychology, and I suggest also parapsychology. One of the reasons why progress is so slow is the existence of an element of high strangeness. We seem to be dealing with multiple unknowns and solving the overall mystery requires a multi-discipline approach.
Parapsychology is not my field at all, but I am aware there is more supporting evidence for it than for ufology. If the ETH is correct, then it seems likely that ETs would also be aware of these types of phenomena.
I found this podcast on the subject interesting:http://theunexplained.tv/paranormal-podcasts/edition-141-cal-cooper

Kudos to Mr. Palmer. Let’s hope he has more success! I think the stigma associated with the UFO/UAP subject has been created in large part by the UFO community itself. Said community covers a broad spectrum of unidentified aerial phenomena plus paranormal activity plus abduction plus alien/human hybrids plus telepathic communication, yada, yada, yada….. The field becomes easy fodder for debunkers and rigid (disciplined)scientists.
Little wonder that SCIENCE related institutions tend to steer clear. There needs to be a focus on nuts and bolts investigations first and foremost. Progress in THAT area would then bring in the scientific community.

That response from a Smithsonian official is pretty typical of the situation; although that institution doesn’t seem to know its own policy. Was that response anything but an attempt, by a functionary, to protect the institution’s image from the presumed negative aspects of an association with the subject of UFOs?
We place a great deal of emphasis on presenting an image and protecting that image, to the extent that reality can be divorced from appearance. The Smithsonian (still?) has over 6000 employees. Do they all share the same opinion on the subject? Does everyone in the Pentagon share the same opinion of UFOs/UAP for that matter?
SETI can talk about the possibility of intelligent ET life, without a problem. The late Authur C Clarke was able to talk seriously about the possibility of ET technology in our solar system. So why is a general discussion of the wider issues so often considered inappropriate?